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rt_peasant

Blotchy color with indoor-ripened toms

rt_peasant
14 years ago

After reading many posts saying that tomatoes are best picked at blush or shortly after, I've started picking my tomatoes early, anywhere from first blush to half-colored. The problem I'm finding is that the tomatoes never fully change color if I pick them early. This may be purely cosmetic, but other people, esp. those who take their toms to market, seem to get theirs to turn fully red.

The tomatoes have been left spread out on the kitchen counter, in a corner of the kitchen that never sees direct sunlight. Indoor temps range from mid-60's to upper 70's. I let these toms ripen for 10 days to 2 weeks, and the yellow splotches of color never go away. Do I need to put them in paper bags? Let them ripen in a pile? Stack them with bananas?

FWIW, the tomatoes that I've tried this with are Big Beef and Super Fantastic.

yellow splotches on counter-ripened tomato:

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